Overview
Upstream O3DE core does not ship a built-in PhysX Vehicle Gem. DawnEngine PhysX Vehicle simulates cars and tracked platforms on PhysX 5 with a raycast suspension model: one dynamic chassis rigid body, ground rays per wheel (or road wheel), spring–damper suspension, and tire / track contact forces applied each physics substep. Vehicle logic lives in this Gem and does not use the NVIDIA PhysX Vehicle SDK.
Built for racing, military, and heavy-equipment simulation: data-driven editor assembly, starter templates, keyboard/gamepad assist, plus Lua / Script Canvas control and state buses.
Key Capabilities
- Wheeled and tracked: Ackermann steering, anti-roll, differential layouts; tracked differential steering and anisotropic friction.
- Data-driven assembly: chassis / drive / track components serialize to Prefabs; one-click templates.
- Input and scripting: built-in Drive component, or drive via
VehicleControlRequestBus/ state buses from AI and scripts. - Visual sync: optional wheel mesh pose sync and track travel distance for UV scroll.
- Debug: suspension rays, contact points, and tire-force draw.
Use Cases
- Drivable vehicles in games and training sims.
- Tank / construction tracked platforms.
- Autonomy demos wired to HTN and Navigation3D.
Related Features
Vehicles supply physical motion while HTN decides and Navigation3D or ground nav supplies paths, with stable high-speed motion under double-precision large worlds. Manuals: docs site.